Skipping A Groove
by genhoss
Summary: What happens when Ranma is mistaken for someone thought to be long dead?  Can he prove who he is?  what if that life is better than his own...  Ranma Naruto Xover
1. Chapter 1

This is an attempt at a Ranma Naruto xover, I do not own either. Many thanks to James Axelrad for his help

Also while there have been a few fic s of a similar nature this one will not hold any real likeness to them other than in the vaguest sense.

Enjoy and feel free to drop a review to tell me what you think.

Kakashi Hatake was for once not only on time but early as he stood lazily in the Hokages office waiting for the Hokage to get to the point and tell him why he was summoned off of his mission before he even got halfway to his destination. Hearing the Hokage's throat clear Kakashi straitened himself slightly and waited to be told why he had been pulled off of a A ranked mission without an explanation.

"There have been a few happenings while you were gone that I felt you might want to be made aware of. Normally I would not have pulled you off of your mission but in this case I figured it best to have you return as your presence might be needed."

Seemly disinterested Kakashi pulled out a small book he kept on his person and flipped it open to a random page, pretending to immerse himself into the book knowing full well how annoyed it made other people.

Knowing that what he had to say was going to get a rather potent reaction from the ninja Sarutobi smirked to himself but gave no outward reaction to the Ninja's behavior.

After calmly lighting his pipe and taking a few puffs he began, "About a week ago a council meeting was interrupted with the arrival of a young woman."

Kakashi lowered his book slightly wondering what this had to do with him as he listened to the third continue.

"She was in rather nasty shape and had appeared out of nowhere, having fallen through some sort of transparent vortex. She was promptly rushed to the hospital where she received a blood transfusion as well as some much needed medical care."

Again the famed copycat Nin wondered how this had anything to do with him and raised his book slightly to show his disinterest.

"After she had been stabilized a nurse was entering the patients available information into the records when she stumbled across a match in our records for the previously unknown woman... " Pausing for a moment Sarutobi added, "I won't bore you with the details but after several tests the woman was identified as a ninja formerly thought to have been deceased..."

Though he gave no outward reaction to the news Kakashi felt a small ray of hope blossom within himself as over the years he had lost a large number of friends until he realized that it hurt less when he kept everyone at a distance with a shield of nonchalontness.

Not hearing the Hokage continue Kakashi lowered his book once more and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

Sarutobi had paused briefly to gauge the Nin's reaction to the news, once he was satisfied he continued, "The woman was last seen on the eve of the Kyuubi's assault and thought to have died, unfortunately due to the time of her death a lot of Ninja's were lost and it was assumed that she was buried with the other fatalities that occurred that night."

Kakashi tried to think back to that night and withheld a shudder, that night he had lost the last person that had held any real close ties to him. The only problem was that that person had been a male. Feeling a wave of the melancholies wash over him Kakashi asked, "Hokage-sama while I appreciate the trip down memory lane I don't see any reason as to why I was pulled off of my mission for this as the only person I lost that night that was close to me was my sensei."

Sarutobi smiled sadly, perhaps if Kakashi had known things might have been different but at the time he had felt it more important to keep some things secret less the wrong people find out and take advantage of Konoha's weakened state to strike back at an innocent.

Kakashi was put off by the sad smile coming from his Hokage and asked, "Who?"

"She did not battle with the Kyuubi that night as she had health issues that prevented it, actually with the exception of the fourth and I, everybody else believed her to be out on an extended mission for the six month's prior to the Kyuubi attack."

Realization dawned on the masked Nin as he half uttered and half asked, "Kushina?"

The third nodded in his seat and replied slowly adding an emphasis on the last name, "Yes Kushina Uzumaki."

Kakashi was floored, he had known Kushina, Hell there was a brief time where he had been infatuated with her, despite the fact that she had been a few years his senior. Though he had to admit that his infatuation with her had never truly died off, rather it had been placed beneath a sometimes-awkward friendship that had grown into the last true friend he had since Rin and Obito. It was at that moment that something the third had said finally registered with him; he had emphasized her name, more importantly her last name as if there was something there that he was supposed to see.

He was drawing a blank that had been her name, but why would the Hokage emphasize her last name. Sure Uzumaki was a rare name and only two people came to mind when he heard it, one was Kushina and the other… the other belonged to a young blond haired boy that… It was at that moment that facts started clicking in place, and the now seemly useless prattle of a back-story started to make sense. Kushina hadn't been on a mission; she had been hiding for six month's during the latter stages of her pregnancy only to disappear after birthing her son. The only thing that did not make sense was why had it been important to hide Kushina's son from him and everybody else and still leave him with Kushina's last name.

Thinking back he knew that sometimes when orphans were found with no clues to their identities that they were sometimes given names of fallen ninja's whom were without clans to give the child a closer tie to the village as well as giving honor to the dead. Shaking his head to get back on track Kakashi came across the realization that it was not that Kushina's son needed to be hidden because he was her son but rather it had been because of who the father was that would have sparked controversy and possibly caused a civil war within the village to decide who would care for the Yondamine's child, add to that the fact that the Kyuubi was sealed within the child as well and there would have been no telling whether or not the Naruto would have lived past his first birthday no matter how many guards would have been posted. Because for every person that would have been willing to take in Naruto given who he was an equal if not greater amount would have despised him just because of what he symbolized more so than what those who currently show open hostility towards the bay, especially to those who view Naruto as the demon itself and not the vessel.

Realization hitting him like a ton of bricks Kakashi lost the grip on his book and allowed it to tumble to the ground. Sinking to his knee's Kakashi could not take any comfort in the fact that it had been for Naruto's benefit, as he could not wash away the shame he felt in being no better than the majority of the village. Sure he had never openly harmed Naruto but he had turned his back and ignored him, which in his book was far worse than any physical harm that he could have done. After all attention in any form is attention but disinterest and un-acknowledgement are far worse because at least with violence against yourself you know that somebody cares enough to hurt you, sure it wasn't an healthy outlook but it was true enough.

Feeling that he had let two of the most important people in his life down Kakashi stared sullenly at the floor and now with Kushina alive that shame was magnified tenfold as he would have to show his face with the knowledge that he had done nothing.

"There's more…"

Breaking out of his shameful silence Kakashi looked up, gazed into the Hokage's eyes and asked, "What more can there be, she was my friend and he is the son of my Sensei. I failed their memories and dishonored them with my lack of actions."

"Her Chakra is different, it has been changed somehow and is nothing like I have seen before. It also seems that she has not aged much if at all since the day she disappeared."

Kakashi's mood brightened somewhat as he said, "She could be a fake then."

"She has the same finger prints, the dental records match, same blood type and same DNA, if she's an imposter she's really good and it's not a Henge as she has been in a coma since her arrival, plus with her Chakra as it is I'm not even sure that she could pull off a simple Henge not to mention one that doesn't disperse while she's in a coma."

Kakashi nodded it did make sense to him but the other two matters were needed answers, wondering what he was supposed to do with the information he asked, "And you want me to investigate what happened?"

Sarutobi shook his head negatively and replied, "No, I'll be taking care of that personally… No what I want you to do is more important."

His one exposed eyebrow rose inquisitively as Kakashi asked, "What's more important than finding out what happened?"

Setting his pipe to the side the Third Hokage spared a glance out of the window to take a whimsical glance at his former predecessors carved likeness on the Cliffside and said, "News has already leaked out and while Naruto is not in any danger at the moment I would like him to know before it becomes widespread knowledge and you were among those who had known her best so later today I want you to go over to the academy and bring Naruto to the hospital where we both will sit down with him and explain to him what is happening."

"I barely know the boy, hell I've never even spoken to him before."

"True as that may be you were rather close with both his parents and he will no doubt have questions that I would not be able to answer."

With his one visible eye blinking in understanding Kakashi stood up and made his way over to the door in the assumption that the meeting was over but paused slightly to ask, "If she's in a coma why bring him to the hospital to do this?"

Sarutobi sighed and replied, "Yesterday afternoon Kushina underwent a procedure that would alleviate some of the swelling in her brain and the doctors believe that if she is going to wake up she will do so some time today." Reaching over to pick up his pipe he added, "If you don't have anymore questions I will see you at the hospital at three o'clock this afternoon with Naruto."

Now at the door the famed copycat Nin stopped in his tracks and asked, "Actually I do have one more question."

"…"

"How did sensei and Kushina get together? As far as I knew Kushina didn't like men… I mean she was my best friend and out of all the people I saw her take home not one was male. "

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A little Later that same day

12

Ranma awoke slowly as his vision cleared itself of the blurry haze that looked to be the standard white tile of Doctor Tofu's clinic's ceiling. He tried to remember what had happened to bring him there as the last thing he remembered was going off on a training trip and setting up camp after a long day's trek through the local wilderness outside of Nerima.

Pushing aside his ponderings in favor of looking around his surroundings as his vision had seemly returned to normal Ranma could not help but notice that he was not in Doctor Tofu's Clinic. If he had to take a stab in the dark to guess where he was he would say he was in the hospital. Make that she was in the hospital, as she just realized that she was a girl for the moment.

Perplexed as to how she came about to be in the hospital Ranma tried to sit herself up but was only able to put a few scant inches between her back and the mattress before she felt her muscles tire out and succumb to gravity.

Suddenly feeling rather exhausted over the whole ordeal Ranma idly wondered what had happened again before a voice shook her out of her thoughts.

"You should rest, you were in pretty bad shape when my ninja's found you."

Though the voice seemed kindly and comforting the mention of Ninja's had Ranma immediately on alert. Quickly turning her head to the voice her eye's nearly left the confines of their sockets as she felt a glimmer of the mans power. More importantly though the swift action had caused her vision to swim with spots as a wave of nauseous passed through her.

The man paused slightly and held up a wastebasket before continuing to wait either for Ranma to make use of the offered item or regain her composure before he continued on with, "You are in Konoha at the hospital, you were found nearly a week ago."

With the nauseous passed for the moment Ranma returned her attention back to the strange old man and rolled the unfamiliar city name around in her head a few times before she caught the rest of what he was saying.

"Well found is perhaps too strong of a word, you appeared out of thin air during a council meeting." The elderly man seemed to get a bit whimsical as he added, "I'll never forget the look on Hiashi's face when you materialized out of thin air and crashed on top of him." Clearing his throat the man added, "But I digress. You looked to be quite injured and were brought to the Hospital immediately as you were in need of a blood transfusion due to all of the open wounds you had. Most of your other injuries seemed superficial and had cleared up without so much leaving a mark with the exception of the rather nasty looking cut on the side of your head, that only seemed to subside this morning after corrective measures were taken yesterday."

Ranma nodded her head and noticed that she felt a slight wave of dizziness wash over herself again giving the mans story credit. Though for the most part her mind was still attempting to come up with some point of reference as to where she was as the last place she remembered being was outside of Tokyo and no map she remembered looking at had mention of Konoha on it, though the fact that she had never actively looked for Konoha also occurred to her meaning that fretting over a strange name was pretty pointless as just because she did not remember it did not mean that it was never there. Deciding to get a bit of clarity on the situation Ranma asked in a shaking worn voice, "Konoha?" and was barely able to hide a grimace at how raspy and vulnerable her voice seemed.

Ranma had been paying rapt attention to the elderly man who radiated power and did not miss the slight shift in facial expressions showing that somehow Ranma not knowing Konoha was distressing.

The man shifted uncomfortably in his seat he was unsure of how to handle the situation now that it was becoming apparent that the young woman laid on the hospital bed before him did not remember her adopted home.

He considered that it was possible that they were mistaken in her identity after all this woman could have been a long lost twin sister of whom she was being mistaken for but mentally shook his head at that as they did have rather advanced means to tell and with the exception of her Chakra being different the woman in front of him was a exact match for Kushina Uzumaki. There was also the possibility that this woman before him was a clone of the original but aside from jutsu's it was not possible to clone a living being without some degeneration in the DNA, at least not from what the doctors had told him.

That meant that this woman before him must be Kushina and that she had amnesia to some extent, it was a very likely possibility as the doctors had forewarned him with that possibility. Sarutobi sighed there were going to be a lot of unanswered questions, "_Hopefully she can at least tell us what happened to her and why she hasn't seemed to age at all in the last twelve years."_

Noticing that the woman was now openly frowning at him he cleared his throat and said, "Please excuse an old man to get lost in his thoughts I was merely concerned as to how it seemed that you had no familiarity with Konoha when I mentioned it. Before I answer your question could you tell me your name please."?

Ranma blinked most of the older people she had come across with any semblance of power always did something to set her off and place them on her bad side or at least enough to warrant a fair amount of cautiousness around them but this man seemed to be radiating something that just made her feel like opening up to the man. However despite part of her wanting to open up a much larger part of her urged her to be cautious and only tell the man what he needed to know as she had been burned one too many times in the past and did not want to get blindsided while laid up in the hospital. Clearing her head Ranma stated, "My names Ranma, Ranma Saotome."

Sarutobi frowned again the certainness in the young woman's voice told him that she fully believed herself to be this Ranma Saotome.

Ranma noticed the mans frown and again wondered why the near mention of her name could have that effect on someone before it clicked in her head. Obviously it must have something to do with her old man, he could have done something stupid ranging from petty theft to engaging her to one of this mans daughters. But before she could ask another question the man stated in an almost saddened voice.

"Well Ranma, My Name is Sarutobi or more formally people around here call me Hokage-sama and I am the leader of this Village... Would you oblige an old man's curiosity and tell me a little bit about yourself." Noticing the frown on her face Sarutobi quickly added, "Yesterday you had major surgery to alleviate the swelling in your brain from your head injury and I need to make sure you are not suffering any ill effects, like amnesia." 

Ranma shrugged before wincing slightly at the wave of dizziness that washed over her again reminding her not to make any sudden moves. Once she had stabilized herself she thought about the old mans request, she did not think that he was a threat to her after all he could have done something to her in her sleep but hadn't. Plus he had been fairly honest with her so far so a little bit of information should keep him satisfied, but there was no way she was going to tell the man about her curse because if they had already known about it he would have said something but since he hadn't then Ranma felt no need to possibly alienate herself while she was in no position to fight back.

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Around the same time at the Ninja academy.

12

Naruto Uzumaki was bored as he listened to Iruka-sensei ramble on about something or another. He knew he probably should have been paying attention to what was being said but he felt it was not really all that important as nothing was being taught that would help him become a more awesome ninja. Besides he had more important things to worry about as he was currently planning the monster of all pranks. Normally the idea of pulling off a prank of as large of magnitude as he had planned would be enough to keep him enthralled in all the details but the fact was that due to the sheer size of the prank he was getting sidetracked on all the details which in turn was giving him a headache.

Knowing that it was going to be worth it as he felt that there was no way they could continue to ignore him once he pulled it off was only a small comfort to the rueful blond.

"NARUTO"

Snapping up from his previously slouched position Naruto automatically fired back, "YES SENSEI!"

Iruka sighed into the palm of his hands out of frustration, he had called Naruto's name several times before resorting to shouting. Though he had to admit that he was relieved that Naruto hadn't been sleeping, yet worried about what the young trickster could possibly have been planning to keep him so submersed that he had not noticed some one enter the room.

After replying to Iruka - sensei's shout Naruto managed to coax himself into a more relaxed position and only then did he notice that the entire class was staring at him as well as at some one eyed ninja with silver hair. Noticing the man's Jounin vest Naruto came to a conclusion and whined much to the rest of the classes delight, "Sensei I didn't do anything today I've been here all day."

Running his hands through his hair Iruka stated with a forced calm, "I know that Naruto… IF you had been paying attention you would have known that this man is going to take you to go see the Hokage for a very important personal matter."

Leaning back in his chair Naruto chuckled nervously and blurted out, "I knew that. The old man must have finally came to his senses and realized how much of an awesome ninja I am. Probably gonna make me Hokage."

Kakashi resisted the urge to roll his visible eye at the cocky blond, Luckily the one hidden beneath his headband was under no such restriction.

"NARUTO QUIT FOOLING AROUND AND GET MOVING. THE HOKAGE IS A BUSY MAN AND DOES NOT NEED TO BE KEPT WAITING BY A MERE ACADAMY STUDENT." Yelled Iruka

Slightly startled Naruto toppled out of his seat much to the amusement of the class. Dusting himself off Naruto stood up and while making his way to the door he muttered, "I'm going… I'm going… jeeze didn't need to yell."

Iruka sighed as he heard Naruto's muttering and offered him an apologetic smile, more and more he was starting to understand Naruto but was still struggling to figure out how to connect to the youth.

Kakashi remained silent as he led Naruto out of the school, only stopping once they reached the street. Turning around he gave the blond a critical once over, eye's smiling when he noticed that not once did Naruto flinch while under his scrutiny.

Naruto figured he had been fairly patient in following the stiff ninja around but when the one eyed man stopped and started to stare at him he felt a bit creeped out. Mustering up his bravado he asked, "What you staring at? " ….

Grinning slightly underneath the cloth that kept his mouth hidden Kakashi fired back, "Well, I had thought I was staring at the next Hokage but I guess I was just mistaken."

Naruto was slightly taken aback, someone was acknowledging him and it had completely taken him off guard before he could come up with a witty retort the man said, "Come on we need to get going."

Naruto just glared at the man for a minute before something dawned on him, taking a few quick steps to catch up he said, "Hey we're going the wrong way, the Hokage is that way." Pointing to the left.

Not slowing his stride Kakashi stated, "You need to put something else on. Pausing for a second he gave the air a tentative sniff and added, "And you need a shower."

"What do I need a shower for I'm just going to see the old man?" Pausing for a second a thought occurred to Naruto and he asked, "You're not some kind of pervert are you?"

After picking himself up from the momentary increase in gravity as ninja as skilled as himself do not face fault Kakashi said, "The Hokage would like to introduce you to a very special person and I think that for the occasion you should look your best as you will want to make a good impression… after all if you are someday going to be Hokage you will have to learn to make these small sacrifices."

Once again Naruto felt floored mentally, in his twelve years of existence he had experienced and excepted many things, and among them only the old man and old man Ichiru and Ayame really acknowledged him though he felt that he was slowly winning over Iruka – sensei. But this stranger seemed to be doing it as well and as far as Naruto remembered he had never met him before.

Kakashi himself was a jumble of nerves, part of him was unable to move past his guilt over the feeling that even though he had not known he had let his sensei and friend down. Plus there was the fact that he was worried that she would not remember him or even the possibility that she would not wake up. So instead of picking up Naruto shortly before three o'clock like he had been instructed he had went two hours early hoping that somehow part of his conscience could be appeased if he made an attempt to get to know the boy a bit first,

He was surprised though that he never really noticed it before as Naruto was a spitting image of his sensei and yet despite never having met his mother Naruto seemed to have absorbed some of the brashness that Kushina had had.

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Sarutobi remained quiet after Ranma had finished telling him about herself while he took the information in. Overall it was not much to go on as Ranma had basically told him that she was staying in Nerima, living with a family named the Tendo's and that she had been on a week long training journey before she had woken up and had no memory of how she had arrived at the village.

But it was what she did not mention that sparked the Hokage's interest; the pride in her voice when she had mentioned martial arts was not lost on him.

Unfortunately from her story she seemed to remember a full life as Ranma and this was disturbing news as it meant that she did not remember anything about Konoha. Then there was the fact that she had mentioned Nerima, Tokyo, Japan, and china during her story and as far as Sarutobi knew these places where not any map that he had seen.

In his silence Sarutobi quickly went through every thing he could think of that would offer a viable explanation before it hit him. "_Of course it makes so much sense now, her Chakra being different is a big hint. Orochimaru must have heard about her pregnancy and as a final insult to the Fourth taken Kushina away, experimented on her and then what? She does not seem to have aged much so what could have caused that… she could have been sealed in a scroll but how would she have gotten out of it as there was no scroll present in the council chambers that was not accounted for… Unless the scroll that held her had been destroyed, it's rare but I know if a summon scroll is destroyed sometimes the summons would appear in random places near to where the last summoner spent the majority of their time, though that had only happened two times to my knowledge."_

"_The only problem now is what do I tell her? She believes herself to be this Ranma Saotome so I need to be careful about what if anything I tell her as it could drive her away if I were to simply state everything she knows about her life is an illusion put in place by some one who hated her child's father."_

Having come up with a plan of action Sarutobi started, "Ranma you are not going to like what I am going to tell you."

Ranma sighed, she should have figured that the shoe was going to drop the man had been too nice to her.

Not letting the sigh escape his notice the Hokage continued, "I have never heard of this Nerima before nor have I ever seen any of the other places on any map that I have. So while I do not know how you came to be here I do not know of where you came from either. What I did not tell you before is that you just appeared from a transparent vortex, the cause of which is unknown."

Ranma blinked slowly unsure as to whether or not she should believe the old man, he hadn't lied to her yet but just saying something did not make it true. Hesitantly she asked, "You're joking right?"

"No I'm not… But once you are able to be discharged I will give you access to what ever you need to investigate this matter for yourself and once you are convinced that I am telling you the truth then you can come to me and discuss what we will do from there. Is that acceptable?"

Ranma nodded, the man was not just telling her that he had never heard of where she was from, he was also telling her that she was free to look for herself. Just having that option went a long way in Ranma wanting to trust the man.

"Very well. Now there is also one other matter I wish to discuss with you."

Still a little wary Ranma consented with, "Uhm, okay."

"Since you are not from around here, once you are discharged from the hospital I would like your consent to place someone with you that will act as a guide as well as render any assistance you might need until you are fully recovered."

Ranma considered the offer cautiously as she was unsure about the offer, on one hand if this was a village of Ninja like the man had said then she probably should have somebody around just so another disaster like what happened in the Amazon village did not happen. On the other hand she really was not looking forward to spending a lot of time as a girl but at the moment knew that the old mans request was just a formality as she was pretty sure that he would do so anyway. Deciding to go ahead and play along she nodded her head and replied, "Okay I guess, but where am I going to be staying? At the moment I don't seem to have any money."

Sarutobi waved his hand to put the young woman at ease and replied, "That's not a problem, and we have a special fund for people whom need it." It was a small lie but Ranma did not need to know that she was going to be using what was rightfully her money in the first place until she was ready.

Rising out of his chair he said, "Now if you'll excuse me I need to make arrangements for your release as since you are now awake barring any complications the doctors informed me that you could be released within two days if you take it easy for a bit. I'll be back in a hour or so with your guide's."

"Guide's?" Ranma asked before the man had a chance to leave.

"Ah yes, your primary guide is a academy student that you will be staying with but while he is at school I will have someone else helping you out."

Ranma nodded, truthfully she was sort of curious as to what exactly students did at a ninja school but figured she could hold her questions until later.

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A little while later

12

Naruto was starting to become a bit nervous; the man who had introduced himself as Kakashi was not really much of a talker and had not really said much except for the fact that this meeting was important. Then there was also the fact that he was at the hospital waiting for the Hokage and not the old mans office. Turning his head to the one eyed masked man he pouted, "I don't see why I couldn't wear what I was wearing, it wasn't that dirty."

Kakashi chuckled softly to himself, Naruto was reminding him more and more of Kushina with his complaining.

Slightly affronted at not getting a real answer Naruto yelled, "HEY I ASKED YOU SOMETHING."

"Ah Naruto, Kakashi, you're early."

Kakashi straitened in his seat and resisted the urge to nervously wring his hands as he waited to hear how Kushina was doing.

"Hey old man what's the deal with sending the silent Cyclops over there to come get me, he's barely told me anything."

Giving a bemused chuckle at Kakashi's expense Sarutobi stated, "Well that's a knew one, I wonder how that would look in a bingo book, it sort of has a better ring than the copy cat Nin."

Kakashi glared at the Hokage for a moment before he was waved off with, "Relax, I have good news."

"She's awake then?"

"Yes she woke up awhile ago and I was able to have quite the informative conversation with her."

"So she remembers?" Kakashi asked with eagerness that he had not shown since Obito's death.

Sarutobi frowned and said, "No, she doesn't, more so, she has given herself a completely different identity and holds no knowledge of Konoha or fire country."

"Will she ever remember?"

"I don't know. Only time will tell and we will have to be careful so we do not drive her away."

"WILL SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?" Shouted Naruto as his last vestige of patience dwindled off. "WHO IS SHE? WHY AM I HERE? WHY DID I HAVE TO TAKE A SHOWER? AND WHAT WAS WRONG WITH MY ORANGE JUMSIUT?"

Sarutobi gave Naruto a quick once over and stared at Kakashi wondering what possessed the nin to have Naruto put on dress slacks, a white collared shirt with his usual sandals.

Kakashi mouthed back through his mask, -- It was Orange – -- And he stunk –

Sarutobi chuckled and gave Naruto a placating gesture before starting with, "Naruto if you will take a seat I will tell you what is going on, just try to stay calm."

Naruto nodded sharply as he climbed down from standing the chair he had jumped onto to gain every ones attention.

"Take in mind Naruto this might be very distressing to you to hear and I apologize for my deception but things were well beyond my control and the matter was taken out of my hands."

Taking in a deep breath Sarutobi started, "twelve years ago when the Kyuubi attacked the village was in chaos and from what I have been able to ascertain while the majority of our Ninja were out fighting the Kyuubi a Missing Nin was able to sneak into the Village and gain entrance into the hospital where there was a woman who had just given birth. I can not speak for the motive behind this but can only assume that it was an attempt to strike back at a Village and man that had angered him."

Wishing that he had brought his pipe with him Sarutobi sighed before continuing, "I'm not sure as to how but this Ninja was able to steal away the woman to somewhere where he proceeded to experiment on her in the process he managed to change her Chakra somehow. Eventually she was sealed somehow as her age has not changed much within the past twelve years, whether it was within a scroll or container I do not know but whatever held her captive must have been damaged recently as she appeared out of thin air in the council chambers during session."

From his seat Kakashi could barely hold back a growl, he knew who the Nin was, and was barely able to suppress the massive amount of killer intent that wanted to break free and radiate off of his body.

Naruto on the other hand was still puzzled and still wondering what this had to do with him.

Sarutobi gave Naruto a sympathetic smile and continued, "She had been in a coma from her injuries for the past week and has only awoken just a short time ago. Sadly she has no recollection of who she was or even where she is from. I do not know if this was by design of what was done to her or of consequence of her injuries that happened before her arrival."

Pausing so he could approach Naruto and kneel down to look him in the eyes the third added, "Naruto, I'm sorry for all these years and I promise to do my best to make it up to you."

Naruto shifted nervously in his seat, he still did not understand what the big deal was but the fact that the old man was acting all sappy on him was making him worried for what he was about to find out.

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Moments after the Hokage left Ranma, Ranma was laying down on her back attempting to move her ki throughout her body to speed up her recovery time. In the past she had had some decent success in it but she was a long way away from being a master. Actually the whole reason behind her training trip had been to get a greater understanding of her ki as well as to set her down the long road to mastership.

Sometime in the process of attempting to speed up her healing though she felt exhaustion starting to settle in and though she tried to fight it she eventually succumbed and fell into a deep sleep.

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Naruto stared down at the peacefully Sleeping woman he had been told was his mother. He tried to be angry with her but the Old man was right, what had happened was not her fault, nor was it the old mans fault or even Cyclops. No, even Naruto who had been accused of being an idiot at times knew that the fault lay with whom had taken her.

He wished that he knew more about her and his father but the Old man had said that if Ranma as she was called now was going to remember on her own then any more in depth information would have to wait until she was ready to know it.

Naruto did not understand why they could not just tell her the truth rather than waiting for her to figure it out by herself but reasoned that the old man had his reasons. Though he had to admit it as his anger had drained away Naruto wanted nothing more than rush over and give her a hug as the whole idea of family, something he had longed for, had finally come true.

Hearing the door open Naruto spun ready just incase somebody had come to finished what they had started all those years ago.

Kakashi had been surprised that Naruto had heard him open the door as he was attempting to be as stealthy as possible so as to not disturb anyone. But when Naruto had spun to face him he felt relieved in a sense that Naruto seemed willing to take him on if just for a second. Giving the young blond a simple, "Yo." He settled down in one of the chairs to wait for Kushina… Ranma to wake up.

Naruto relaxed somewhat, as he recognized Cyclops, turning back to face his sleeping mother he whispered, "She's still sleeping."

Giving Naruto an eye smile for stating the obvious Kakashi considered the blond and asked, "Kid you want to train with me in the morning?"

Naruto paused briefly wondering what was up with the guy, but then he realized that very few people offered him any help and despite the fact that he claimed he did not need their help, that was more of a way of dealing with it, he really needed someone's help with certain things. With a excited, "YOU BET YOUR ASS I DO."

"Naruto… Sssh… You're going to wake her up." Kakashi hissed.

His warning came too late though as Ranma's eyes fluttered open and began to search out the source of the room.

Naruto grinned sheepishly under the gaze of his unknowing mother and awkwardly stated, "Hi, I'm Naruto… Sorry about that."


	2. Chapter 2

Well, this is chapter 2, I don't own Naruto or Ranma. Also I'd like to take this opportunity to thank James Axelrad who has helped with the entire process for this fic as well as all my others.

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Ranma rubbed her temples for what seemed like the thousandth time in the past twenty minutes in an attempt to stave off the upcoming headache. It had been two days after she had woken up from her coma and she was not really feeling much better. Add to that the fact that she was slowly going stir crazy and if it were not for her receiving visitors in the form of the old man, Kakashi and Naruto she felt that she would have snapped by now.

She realized that attempting to stave off her upcoming headache probably a futile effort as she was still laid up in the hospital recovering from her injuries and no matter how much ki she tried to push to her injured areas her body remained stubborn in its efforts to heal. She knew that it was just because of the magnitude of her injury as any head injury was serious and the fact that she had been operated on just made it more severe. With a grimace, she had to admit that she felt like she was making some progress, just not what she felt she was capable of.

Pushing the book on her lap over to the side she sighed as she closed her eyes and laid back to where her head was resting on the standard foam pillow most hospitals use. The book she had been reading was labeled as a standard textbook on the geography of Fire Country and its surroundings. It was frustrating, but for the life of her she could not find a single reference to any area that she was familiar with.

At first glance she had almost thought that she had somehow wound up in Korea or Vietnam, but the fact that there were so many islands off of the main land as well as the fact that the peninsulas were the wrong shape, it didn't add up. Ranma had also ruled out time travel or her being on a magical island, as for one, the Nan ban Mirror had been destroyed, and two, even if she was on some sort of magically hidden land mass there would be some reference to one of the main continents.

Then there was the fact that every body she had met so far spoke fluent Japanese, and judging from the peeks she took at her chart and the books she had received, wrote it as well. Though that could have just been for her benefit as she had so far only met four people, one of which was a doctor. But to the best of her knowledge the only places that spoke and wrote Japanese as a main language were in Japan itself.

She was slightly concerned though that she had caught glimpses of a guard stationed outside the door of her room, but reasoned that she was in a village run by ninja and her being a stranger would probably cause a certain amount of uneasiness, especially if she arrived the way that she had been told she had.

But what truly worried Ranma was the fact that among the few books she had been given to ascertain her location, one of them spoke of great ninja wars and that was a concept that she was having problems believing. As far as her own knowledge in history went, there had never been any wars within the past century that involved ninja's on such a wide scale. She was starting to believe that somehow she had been transported someplace else not of her own world, but the entire idea of different worlds was something that she could not wrap her mind around. It just didn't seem possible to her.

Ranma had even considered for a moment that she had hit her head a little too hard and was experiencing something similar to the last time she hit her head and believed she was a real girl rather than a boy cursed into turning into a girl. She had discounted that rather quickly though as the doctors had left her pigtail intact. Well for the most part, as it was now a bit lopsided from having her head shaved around where they operated. Still though, it was what was in her pigtail that caused her to disbelieve her own amnesia theory as she still had the dragon whisker holding her pigtail together.

Ranma realized that in order to figure out where she was she would have to get out of the village and look at the stars as she knew the northern hemisphere night skies fairly well and knew that there was no way that she was in the southern hemisphere as the toilet water flushed clockwise.

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"How much stuff are we gonna move?"

"I told you Naruto, every thing of yours as well as whatever is deemed safe from what was left of your mothers personal effects." Kakashi replied for what he thought to be the fiftieth time in the past hour.

"Safe? Huh?"

"Naruto you know what the Hokage said, we are not to tell her anything, she has to remember on her own or we might drive her away. So everything that we give her of hers has to be checked to make sure it does not hold a photo of her or anything else that would make her suspicious."

"I still don't see why I had to move." Naruto complained.

"You had a one bedroom and it was a dump. Besides my apartment is next door."

"So."

"Now Naruto, I figured if you were going to continue to train with me then you might want to live a bit closer than across town. If you don't though…" Kakashi supplied coyly.

"Hey, I didn't say that." Naruto stated as his eyes brightened up with the thought of training again with the one eyed Nin. Though he had only had one session in the morning before class Naruto had felt that he had made more progress in that one session than what he would have made on his own in a week. Sure, it didn't have any magical benefits to helping him with the three academy Jutsu's that he had to be able to execute without fail, but it was closer than what he would have gotten otherwise.

It was at this time that a thought occurred to Naruto, as his usual youthful exuberance faded from his face he asked, "Why are you doing this for me now?"

Kakashi sighed; he supposed this question would come sooner or later. Setting down the last of the boxes that he was moving he knelt down, squatting to Naruto's height and said, "I'm not sure. When I found out, I was not pleased with my own actions towards you. I felt like I had let a lot of people down even though I had not known and was sickened by it. After I found out, I thought about it and I decided that while I might not have been there before I could at least try to make it up to you. I know it's not much but for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Normally Naruto was not much for sappiness, but after having his whole world turned upside down with the arrival of his long lost mother, he was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. Despite that he still had one more question. Clearing his throat he asked in a tone that seemed to pale in comparison to his usual boisterous self, "Who was my father."

Kakashi stood up and made his way over to the window. Naruto's new apartment had been chosen for a few reasons, one is that it was close to Kakashi's and he would be able to respond quickly if there was a threat. Two, in that it was much larger and in better condition than Naruto's old place, and three, in that it offered a strait on view of the Fourth Hokage's face on the Hokage monument. It was part of the third's plan to subtly immerse Kushina in small facets in of her former life. The view was so important as it would by in theory constantly nag at her subconscious every time she looked out the window.

Clearing his throat he began slowly, "Naruto, there are many secrets out there, and while I might not agree with keeping them from you, I do recognize their necessity."

Naruto huffed, he should have known that no one was going to tell him, hell, he still did not understand why, if Kakashi had been his mom's best friend, then why did he show up now and not earlier when he was younger.

Kakashi gripped the windowsill with both hands as if to brace himself for what he was about to say. "Naruto? Do you know what makes a good Ninja?"

Naruto scoffed and replied, "Pheh, that's easy… Awesome Jutsu's."

Shaking his head Kakashi replied, "While Jutsu's are important, the ability to see underneath the underneath is a Ninja's most valuable resource."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Whined Naruto.

With a heavy sigh Kakashi replied, "It means that sometimes you have to look past the obvious to see the truth."

"Ahh."

Putting aside his doubts that Naruto was just humoring him, Kakashi decided to use a different approach and said, "I cannot tell you who your father was right now but I suppose I could point you in the right direction."

Naruto stood strait ready for some grand hint that would give him further knowledge of his origins and said with all seriousness, "I'll have this figured out in no time."

Kakashi chuckled lightly before his face took on a darker look as he said, "It has to do with what happened to your mother."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN…? I ALREADY KNEW THAT… HOW'S THAT SUPPOSED TO HELP ME…" Steamed Naruto.

"It's all I can tell you at the moment but if you think about what happened you should be able to figure out why it happened." Replied Kakashi.

Naruto plopped back down on the new couch that had been delivered earlier to pout, as he was not satisfied with Kakashi's help. Mumbling darkly to himself he paid no heed to one box that was balanced on the edge of the couch and as he shuffled in his seat to show his childish anger he accidentally caused the box to topple over the side of the couch.

Jumping to his feet over the shock of hearing something slam into the floor Naruto turned to the source of the noise and froze in shock as the contents of the box had spilled out onto the floor.

"Ah so that's where they went." Kakashi stated nonchalantly, as if the contents of the box were nothing to be embarrassed about."

"WHAT THE HELL!!! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA… SOME PERVERT'S BEEN THROUGH MY MOM'S THINGS." Naruto yelled, inflamed that somebody would go through his moms stuff.

Placing a restraining hand on Naruto's shoulder Kakashi said, "Relax Naruto, nobody has been through your mom's stuff."

"But that means…"

"Yes, that one day all this would have been yours… You could say this was your inheritance in a way." Supplied Kakashi, now visibly smirking through his mask.

Naruto stared blankly at the spilled contents blankly before wondering how a few porno mags, some rather interesting looking things that he assumed to be flashlights and a half empty bottle of something called sex lotion constituted an inheritance.

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Sarutobi sat before the assembled council in silence waiting for them to take in all the information that he had just given them. He knew that some of them would think that he was jumping the gun a bit but there really was no other plausible explanation that did not come out of some sort of science fiction book.

"If I may Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi gazed over at Danzo, one of the more militant council members and former director of ROOT and said, "Yes Danzo."

"Are you that certain that this is not some sort of trick by our enemies to get their hands on the boy to turn him against us. I think that perhaps Ibiki should interview her to find out her true motives."

"I agree with Danzo, and even if she is who she seems to be she could still be here as some sort of plant. I feel that even if she were proven not to be a threat that we should still keep her separated from Naruto. Supplied Homura, a former teammate of the Hokage's.

Sarutobi sighed, he knew that the council held a lot of prejudices against the boy and wondered if he should disclose Naruto's father's identity in an attempt to swing more over to his side. Mentally shaking his head at the idea as he knew that that would only weaken his case as it would make it seem like he was too personally involved to remain objective he replied, "I do not think that that would be a wise idea at the moment…"

"Ahem… If you will pardon my interruption Lord Hokage I would like to make my and my clans position clear."

"Very well Hiashi."

"I feel that for now we should do nothing and simply watch her interactions. This way we give her just enough room to hang herself should she prove to be working against Konoha."

Hushed murmurs filled the council hall as several members of the council wondered why the Hyuuga Clan would support the Hokage in this matter given what had happened several years ago with the man's own daughter nearly being kidnapped and robbed of her eyes or worse.

Not wanting the Hyuuga influence to poison the other council members against him Danzo quickly stood and said, "Perhaps we should put this to a vote then…."

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Sarutobi smiled inwardly yet let his face read impassive as he watched the council members file out of the hall. It had been close, but with the Hyuuga's support, the vote had gone his way.

Soon Sarutobi was alone with in the meeting hall with the exception of Hiashi Hyuuga. He was about to ask the stern family head why he had supported him out of curiosity when the strict man spoke.

"The Hyuuga's are not blind. With the disclosure of his mother, the father is apparent, as there were only two males that Kushina was seen with on a regular basis. Of course the fact that he seems to be the spitting image of his father was a big hint as well. I will not begrudge the boy a chance to know his family. However, I do hope that you are not mistaken in this matter and letting your feelings for the boy influence your decision." With that said the usually stern and strict man rose out of his seat and made his way out of the meeting hall leaving Sarutobi alone to reflect on his parting words.

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After waking up from a brief nap, most likely inspired due to her pushing her ki to heal her injuries, Ranma glanced at the clock. Gasping in surprise, she started to maneuver herself into a seated position. The reason being was that the Kid Naruto had said that he would come by after he got out of school for the day.

Normally Ranma would have been indifferent on the matter, but the fact that she was lost someplace and alone was frustrating her, and the fact that somebody was being nice to her and wanted to be around her without claiming eternal love or some sort of engagement was rather refreshing.

From what she knew about Naruto he seemed like a good enough kid. There were all lot of plus's in his favor as well, for one the kid was barely twelve which meant that he was too young to fixate on her as a love interest. Then there was the way the blond acted, loud and rather care free, in some ways Ranma saw herself in the young blond. But underneath that, Ranma had caught a glimpse of the boy's ki, or rather what she thought to be ki. But it seemed different than hers.

Actually, the fact that a kid at that age had some sort of power that dwarfed Ranma's own in comparison was a little bit of a shocker to Ranma as she would have thought it impossible for someone that young. She had tried to utilize more of her senses to get a better look, but had only managed to increase the steady light thump of her nearly constant headache into a full blown migraine as Naruto's energy seemed to fluctuate as well as having some sort of duality to it.

Her other two normal visitors on the other hand were much easier to read without risking a more severe headache, and much to her relief, a lot closer to her expectations than Naruto was. It was not that the two were weak, not by a long shot, but rather, they were what she felt was more comparable to their ages. Ranma figured the old man to be about as powerful as the old freak, but as far as skill went, well that was a battle she would like to see. The other guy, Kakashi, she figured him to be in his late twenties and power wise seemed to be about par with herself, but skill wise, she was having her doubts as the man was fairly deceptive in his movements. Unless they fought, Ranma would not be sure but placed him at her level at the least.

After cursing her temporarily weakened disposition several times, Ranma finally managed to coax herself into a sitting position. She did not like appearing weak and helpless despite knowing the extent of her injuries. And though she did not really have anywhere to go at the moment, Ranma was hoping that the doctor would release her sometime soon so at least she would not have to stare at the bland walls of the hospital room all day.

Hearing a knock at the door Ranma smiled and called out, "Come in."

"Hey Ranma." Chirped a blond ball of energy as he seemingly bounced into the room carrying a duffle bag in one hand.

"Hey Naruto… What's in the bag?" Ranma asked as she was hoping to see some cool ninja tools or something as she thought that Naruto had just finished with his classes for the day.

"Bag? Oh this bag…" Naruto chuckled nervously while scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"No the other one." Stated Ranma playfully.

Naruto smiled brightly and said, "The old man talked to the doctors and managed to get them to let me take you around the village for a tour…" At that moment Naruto's smile faded somewhat as he started to show that he was fairly nervous at the moment.

Ranma sat on the bed shell shocked over the offer, as she would have figured that the doctors would want her to stay cooped up in the hospital. She was still having difficulty moving as well as periodic dizzy spells when she tried to do too much. On one hand she did not want to be seen in such a weakened state. She would be unable to defend herself should there prove to be a threat. But on the other hand, she was going a bit stir crazy at the moment as there really was nothing else to do in her hospital room than read. With a grimace Ranma spared a glance to the several textbooks that she had been given to occupy herself with.

Thinking that her head would burst if she was forced to read anymore out of boredom Ranma looked down at herself and took note of the fact that she was wearing a standard issue hospital gown. Looking back up at Naruto she said, "Uhm I guess I could go for a bit, but I really don't want to have to wear this."

Naruto smiled brightly glad that his amnesiac mother wanted to spend some time with him and replied, "No prob, the old man was able to get you some clothes. I brought them with me just in case." Now beaming with pride Naruto held out the bag for Ranma to take.

Ranma took the bag gingerly, hoping that her arm strength wouldn't fail her and as she brought the bag to her lap. After opening it she began to place the items on the bed so she could see what all there was to wear in the bag. After noting a Kimono which was quickly discarded because Ranma felt that it was a waste of energy to put it on, Ranma came across a loose shirt and pair of baggy pants, the material seemed to be almost as soft as her usual silk outfits. Deciding that it would do for the time being Ranma looked through the pile for something to cover up the fact that a portion of her head had just been shaved.

After going through the bag one more time Ranma sighed in frustration. While she was not a particularly vain person, she was proud of her looks and despite the fact that it was her cursed form, Ranma still held her appearance up to her standards that she kept when male.

Naruto noticing that Ranma was upset about something and worried that he had done something to mess up asked, "What's wrong?"

Ranma stared at Naruto for a minute to consider her options, as pride was definitely a tender issue in her case. In the end seeing his somewhat dejected worried look had her saying, "It's just that I was sort of hoping that there was something that would cover up this glaring bald spot on the side of my head."

"Oh is that all." Chuckled Naruto sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. Noticing the incredulous look that Ranma was shooting, him his eyes lit up and as he made a beeline for the door he called back, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Ranma grinned at the kid's eagerness to help her feel a bit more comfortable. Back in Nerima it was a rarity for someone to do nice things for her without some ulterior motive. After Glancing at the clock, Ranma wondered briefly if she had time to change before he got back. Shrugging, she figured that she might as well get started changing as she figured she had at the very least five minutes.

Taking one more look down at the pile of clothes, she wondered if she should attempt to wear the underwear as well before noticing that it was a bit too lacy looking for her tastes, "_Besides."_ She thought, "_I'm still in the hospital so whatever I put on I'm going to have to take off later._"

Back in Nerima Ranma might have balked at herself for even thinking about wearing the proper undergarments for her female form, but there were several different reasons as to why Ranma would even consider it without having to be coerced. First and foremost she was not at the moment in Nerima, nor did she have any idea on where she actually was in relation to Japan. Along with that line of thought, Ranma also wanted to fit in and be as normal as possible while still remaining true to herself. That brought up the fact that so far the people she had met had been rather friendly to her, but were under the impression that she was a girl, and though she was not intentionally deceiving them, at the moment she was not looking forward to the moment when she was forced to disclose her curse to the seemingly friendly people as she was wary on what they would think of her once they found out.

There was one other reason though and that was related to her training journey. Ranma felt that with all she had been through, that there was no cure for the curse and that meant she would have to learn to accept herself, especially if she wanted to master her ki as true mastery begins with oneself.

Placing her mind back on the task at hand Ranma struggled to swing her feet over the side of the bed.

After momentarily bracing herself as another wave of dizziness washed over her Ranma began to struggle with removing the hospital gown while cursing her temporarily weakened state.

Ranma had just finished struggling with putting on her clothes when the door burst open revealing a triumphant looking Naruto waving around a section of cloth while pushing a wheelchair.

"I'm back!" Shouted an excited Naruto.

Wincing at the loud voice that had caused her ears to ring, while wondering why chauffeuring her around was making him so excited Ranma stated, "I can see that Naruto."

Naruto grinned ruefully while holding out the section of cloth and replied, "I got this from Kakashi- sensei. He said you can keep it."

Taking in the offered cloth into her hand Ranma began folding it like a bandana to cover most of her hair and said, "Where is he anyway? He stopped by earlier to drop off a few books and I sort of wanted tot hank him for them though I haven't had a lot of time to look them over what with the whole trying to figure out where I am thing."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly not wanting to tell Ranma that Kakashi was currently busy putting the finishing touches on their new apartment before he said, "He said he'd meet us for some ramen later."

At the thought of eating something other than the bland refuse that that the hospital had been serving her Ranma's stomach let out a low growl. Giving Naruto a smile she said, "I hope we meet up with him soon then cause I'm starving." Then as if she was noticing the wheelchair for the first time Ranma asked, "Hey Naruto, What's with the chair?"

Naruto stood silent for a minute as he awkwardly tried to think of a means to tell his amnesiac mother that it was for her before he the matter was taken out of his hands by a gray haired stranger who stated, "It's for you. You are still recovering and it would be irresponsible for us to allow you to walk around on your own when it could lead to you making things worse for yourself."

Ranma turned her head slowly so her vision would not go haywire on her and sized up the newcomer. The guy seemed to be in his late teens or early twenties with gray hair and glasses. He wore the standard, or what Ranma assumed to be the standard forehead protector marking him as some sort of ninja.

"Sorry didn't mean to barge in unannounced but the door was open. Your doctor sent me by to make sure that you understand that if you want to go out for a while you must use the chair."

Ranma nodded, normally she would have protested but the fact that just getting dressed had taken a lot out of her left her without the strength to argue on the matter.

"Where are my manners? I'm sorry, my name's Kabuto."

Ranma nodded slowly and replied simply, "Ranma."

Naruto deciding that it was his turn to introduce himself proudly stated, "Naruto Uzumaki."

Kabuto smiled kindly and said, "Well it was a pleasure, but I have duties to attend. See you around, Naruto, Ranma."

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Once he was in the hallway and out of site of the Anbu guard that was kept stationed outside of Ranma's door Kabuto smirked as he burned the image of a braless buxom redhead into his mind and thought, "_Sometimes I love my job."_

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Back in the room Ranma scowled to herself as Naruto helped ease her into the wheelchair.

Once Ranma was situated Naruto happily chirped, "You ready."

Ranma had barely been able to get out a reply before Naruto decided to take off.

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In what seemed like a eternity but in reality was only a few minutes Ranma was outside of the hospital and desperately attempting to keep herself from getting sick.

"Sorry bout that Ranma." Apologized Naruto as he nervously shifted from foot to foot hoping that Ranma was not mad at him for going too fast.

With her breathing under control Ranma waved off Naruto's concern with, "No problem Naruto, just wasn't expecting you to go so fast, I still get a little dizzy when I move around… Just try to go a bit slower."

Naruto nodded happily as all his previous nervousness washed away to be replaced with a beaming smile.

"So where to?"

"Huh?" Replied Naruto.

"You said something about showing me around and meeting Kakashi for some Ramen later." Reminded Ranma as she took her first real good look at the village of Konoha.

The village seemed to have an odd mixture of buildings, ranging from more modern looking structures to older more classical designs, not that Ranma was an expert on architecture. In the distance she could see a large tower that looked over the village. For the backdrop there was a large Cliffside with four faces carved into reminiscent of Mt. Rushmore in America, Ranma having seen the American national landmark in his world history text.

Ranma was snapped out of her inspection as she noticed that she was moving again. Angling her head to look behind her she noticed Naruto happily pushing her along through the streets of Konoha.

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Ranma sat silently deep in thought as she waited for Naruto to come back outside with whoever he wanted her to meet.

Even though the tour so far had been brief and basically involved the way from the hospital to the school that Naruto went to Ranma was still able to get a synopsis of it.

As far as villages went it seemed normal enough but Ranma had noticed a few things that were slightly alarming to her. For one thing the sheer amount people walking around with average to high ki levels or something close to it as Ranma could feel that their energy was not the same as hers. The other thing that was bothering Ranma was the village people themselves. It was barely noticeable but for a martial artist trained to be aware of his surroundings at all times from having to deal with near constant surprise attacks from rivals and the occasional foreign prince it was rather easy to notice. It was the way that the Villagers interacted with Naruto that had him on edge. They hadn't done anything outright to harm the kid but rather favored to settle for harsh whispering and hostile glares. It was the open passive hostility that made Ranma start to pay better attention to the other villagers whom were not showing any animosity. What Ranma noticed was pretty glaring; people would not make eye contact with Naruto with the exception of a very small number of people.

Ranma had also noticed that Naruto seemed oblivious to it all as he just seemed content in pushing her around with a wide grin on his face. While Ranma was far from an expert on psychology and generally suffered from awkwardness when it came to personal interrelationships even she could tell that it bothered the blond. _"Actually, I guess he's kind of like me." _Ranma admitted to herself ruefully as she was reminded of several times where she had acted similar when things bothered her.

"Come on, she's over here Sensei."

Ranma looked over towards where she heard Naruto and saw him dragging a man in his mid twenties with a rather large scar across his face. Normally the excitement that Naruto was showing to drag this person towards her would put her on edge but Ranma just chalked up the feeling to the blonds seemingly never ending energy.

Iruka Umino allowed Naruto to half drag him out of the academy and almost crashed into him when the blond stopped just short of the wheelchair bound redhead.

"Who's this Naruto?" Ranma asked as she tried to suppress a shiver at the gobsmaked way the man seemed to be staring at her.

Now that he was standing right there in front of the redhead, Iruka could not help but stare for a moment as he contemplated the buxom redheads beauty.

"This is Iruka Sensei, my teacher." Naruto stated proudly.

Naruto really was not one for long introspections on his own behavior, however since the arrival of his amnesiac mother he had realized that even though she did not remember[, he still had her around. And now that she was around, she would be able to do some of the things that Naruto had noticed other kid's parents do. So it was with that thought in mind that he had taken Ranma to the academy to meet Iruka-Sensei.

Ranma offered the scarred man a wave and greeted, "I'm Ranma."

Silence seemed to set in as the situation turned a bit awkward until Ranma decided to ask, "So, uhm what kind of stuff do they teach at a ninja academy anyway?"

Iruka stared at the redhead for a minute. He had heard the rumors that Naruto's mother or something had finally returned but was suffering from amnesia, but now that the supposed woman in front of him he was having his doubts as the woman seemed to be way too young to have had a child Naruto's age. Mentally shaking his head he was about to respond but was interrupted by Naruto who stated, "We learn the three academy Jutsu's; the Kawarimi, a body substitution skill, the Bunshin, a technique that creates a clone of yourself to distract your opponent, and the Henge, a technique that allows you to transform into someone else. We also learn the standard Taijutsu as well as how to throw Kunai and shuriken."

Iruka's jaw dropped in the shock that Naruto answered the question and got it right, he actually was surprised that the blond had answered. Coming out of his shock induced state he replied, "That's very good Naruto."

Naruto blushed and looked down shyly before he replied, "Thanks Iruka-sensei."

It was at that moment that Naruto's stomach let out a large growl.

Iruka chuckled and said, "Well I'd offer to take you all out for ramen but I have a few things to finish up here before I can leave."

"Actually, Naruto what time were we supposed to meet Kakashi?" Ranma interrupted having felt a bit awkward during the whole exchange.

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Ichiraku's

Ranma looked around the Ramen stand cautiously half expecting an Amazon glomp or attack from Mousse. Shaking her head at the fact that she knew she was not in Nerima at the moment Ranma decided to look out for the real threat in a ramen restaurant, Hot Water, as she did not want her curse found out until she was fully healed.

Due to the restaurant having few patrons that were spread out and not close enough to her vicinity to spill some of the hot broth on her Ranma turned her attention back to Naruto.

"Yo!"

Ranma nearly jumped in her mobile seat as Kakashi appeared next to her causing her to once again suffer the effects of a dizzy spell. Once it passed she glared at the masked Nin and said, "Don't do that."

It was then that Ranma noticed both Kakashi and Naruto were looking at her with concern. Feeling somewhat awkward over the fact that people were showing her such concern Ranma brushed it off with, "I don't know about you but I'm starving."

Kakashi smiled under his mask and said, "Well I suppose we could order…"

"Hey old man! 3 large pork Ramen."

Ranma and Kakashi both turned their heads to stare at Naruto before simultaneously say, "Naruto we can order for ourselves."

Naruto blinked and replied, "Huh, what? Ohh, I wasn't ordering for you guy's that's what I wanted."

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Old man Ichiraku came out from the back of the restaurant and paused, he had heard his number one customer's order but had also noticed that he was not alone. As he approached the three he almost froze in shock, there was something eerily familiar about the three at the table except at the same time there was something off. It was as he was seeing ghosts or more specifically ghosts from the past.

Shaking off the feeling of déjà vu the long time ramen vendor said, "It'll be right up Naruto, say who're your friends? Wait a sec, Let me call Ayame up here so she can meet them too." After pausing to take in a deep breath old man Ichiraku called out, "AYAME, GET OUT HERE, NARUTO BROUGHT SOME FRIENDS."

Ranma and Naruto were both starting to feel a bit uncomfortable for different reasons. For Ranma she was feeling a bit self-conscious in her wheelchair. For Naruto though he was feeling embarrassed at the fact that everybody was staring at him.

Hearing loud smashing and crashing noises Ranma turned her attention the swinging door that lead to the back of the ramen stand half expecting Mousse to emerge and attack her. Non-the less she was pleasantly surprised when a girl in her late teens exited and approached the counter. Ranma smiled at her somewhat nervously, a little bit relieved that Ayame was a girl, though she had to wonder why that was.

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Later that night.

It was dark outside as Ranma stared out the window of her hospital room up into the night skies. It had been a rather hectic day for her with Naruto showing her around but she was glad he had as she learned a lot about where she was. It was nothing that would help her get home but at the moment she was thinking about putting that off for a bit so she could hang around and see what she could learn.

Sighing at the lack of visible stars in the night sky Ranma looked over to her small pile of books that was slowly growing. It seemed like every time she saw the old man or Kakashi they would give her a few more books.

At the moment though Ranma did not feel like reading some text on something or another though. Sure she was bored at the moment as well as feeling a bit wired from her time outside. Reaching over to her freshest batch of books Ranma came across a smaller red covered book, Kakashi had told her that It was a cultural book and would help her with their customs, but there was something about the way he had told her that gave her pause.

Shrugging Ranma ignored the title and opened the book so that she could begin reading it. She managed to get about halfway down the first page before she nearly threw the book across the room with a frenzied panic.

With one hand firmly stationed on her breast in an attempt to calm her nerves Ranma looked around for anybody that might have seen her read the book. It took her a few minutes before she realized that she was no longer in Nerima and that she was in the hospital with visitor hours over until the morning.

Sighing in relief at the fact that she was alone and not about to be disturbed, Ranma eyed the book suspiciously for a few minutes half expecting a mallet to fly out of nowhere before she decided to pick the book back up and flip it over in order to read the title.

"_Icha Icha Paradise huh?"_ Looking around the room once more Ranma started to wage a mental battle.

"_Seems kind of perverted."_

"_Who cares."_

"_Somebody could walk in here at any time and see me with this." _Ranma told herself.

"_One, this is not Nerima. Two, there's a guard stationed outside of the door so it's not like someone is going to walk in on you." Ranma's inner devil reasoned back_

"_Still, I'm no pervert."_

"_It's a cultural book."_

"_It's about girls making out though… With other girls ."_

"_So!"_

"_It's perverted though, if any one back in Nerima found out…"_

"_Don't tell them."_

"_But…"_

"_Look."_ Ranma's inner devil reasoned, "_You're bored… No one will be coming by until morning… Besides you know you want to."_

"_Well maybe I'm a little curious." _ Ranma reasoned with herself, while running her fingers across the cover.

"_So, Read it then."_

"_But…"_

"_Are you a man or what?" _Ranma taunted herself.

Ranma sighed to herself and muttered, "Jerk." Before she carefully opened the book and began to read, keeping one eye on the door.

Just in case.

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Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter the end was a bit difficult and after several rewrite's I settled on this one, I might still change it though, if I do I'll wait until I finish the next chapter and leave notice then.

Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

After a long time here is the first half of Skipping a Groove. Sorry it took so long. I'm updating several fics and posting a bit of new stuff So you guys get this half now. The other half will be posted in a few days to a week I think. I'm trying to get a lot of other fics ready as I fell a bit behind schedule.

Ranma's eyes fluttered open slowly as she stretched her arms out feeling oddly content and energetic considering her temporarily weakened state. "That was some dream." The redhead muttered to herself as she spied the likely source of inspiration for her dreams. After staring at the book for a few moments while she allowed herself to relive some of the fading memories from the dream while comparing it to the story she shook her head ruefully and muttered, "Well… It's definitely perverted… But… Wow… I'll be dammed if it wasn't enjoyable." Shifting her legs slightly under the sheets Ranma's face took on a rather embarrassed expression as she mentally chastised herself, "_I can't believe that I just had one of 'THOSE' dreams… in a hospital no less… At least there's a plastic liner under the sheets… It could have been worse…" _Nodding her head in self agreement she continued, _"Yeah I could have had __**"that' **__type of reaction to a Kuno nightmare back at the dojo_."

Shifting in the bed again as her lower body tried to escape a rather large damp spot Ranma muttered dejectedly, "Might as well get up… I'm not going to be comfortable here… Not with that wet spot anyway…" Giving the likely source of her rather erotic dream one last glance Ranma muttered, "Not really the sort of reading that one would expect for a cultural book…" turning her thoughts toward a few specific Chinese Amazons she replied to herself, "Then again at least kisses hear don't mean an engagement or death depending on gender…"

Sitting up and swinging her feet off of the bed Ranma had a sudden realization. Hopping to her feet to test her theory she grinned happily, "Yes…" she hissed in triumph, "I'm healed…" Jumping up and down in celebration the teen immediately amended her previous statement while clutching onto the side of the bed for supporting with a very weak sounding, "Yay… I'm mostly healed…. Now if only the room would stop spinning I could take a shower and clean up."

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At the same time in a training area

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"No, Naruto. Not until after you have mastered this exercise."

"Oh come on Sensei…" Naruto pleaded from his position under a tree where he was sitting with a leaf in his hands, "This is boring. I want to learn an awesome Jutsu not some lame…" Trailing off as he tried to remember what exactly the small exorcise was supposed to do Naruto asked, "What was this supposed to do again?"

Shaking his head and covering his one visible eye with the palm of his hand The one eyed Nin restated, "This exercise is supposed to help you with your Chakra control."

"What are you talking about? I have great control." Naruto shouted as he launched up to his feet in protest.

"Naruto…" Kakashi started slowly while wondering what could have possibly led him to believe that taking on a student would have been a good idea. Sighing sadly as he recalled his reasons the masked nin continued, "You have horrible Chakra control… You can't even perform the three most basic of the academy Jutsu's." Seeing the blonds face contort into what was most likely going to be a rather loud protest he added, "No your Sexy no Jutsu doesn't count."

Chuckling nervously as he remembered testing it out on the Jonin that very morning Naruto replied, "But it's an awesome technique…"

"Regardless, " Kakashi stated while holding back a shudder at the memory, "You need to work on your control if you are ever going to properly perform those Jutsu's and graduate." Seeing the crest fallen look adorn the usual cheery blonds face Kakashi sighed and said, " Well we have about a week… Right?"

"Yeah…" Naruto said glumly as he looked down at his feet."

"Come on… None of that now…" Kakashi tried as he eye smiled at the sullen preteen, "A week is more than enough time for you to master this little exercise and the three Jutsu's."

"You think so?" Naruto asked as he began to resettle himself back down on the ground.

Taking a knee to put him a little closer to eyelevel Kakashi replied, "I know so… Now come on you only have another thirty minutes before you have to leave for the academy."

Nodding his head in determination the blond youngster bragged, "Well that's more than enough time for me to get this."

"That's the spirit."

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After switching out her bed sheets with a conveniently placed fresh set that she found in the closet Ranma made her way into the bathroom. Slipping off the hospital gown that she had worn to bed she glanced at her reflection in the mirror and frowned. Reaching up to trace her faces reflection in the mirror she sighed having not realized just how badly her hair had been mangled from the surgery. Glancing at her bound pigtail she shrugged helplessly, remembering that the effects of the dragon whisker soup had worn of some time ago.

Reaching into the shower she set the water on a luke warm setting while removing the dragon whisker from her hair and tying it securely to the towel rack so that she would not lose it.

Not seeing any steam coming from the water cascading out of the shower head Ranma muttered, "I'll just have to be careful, can't stay male too long… Don't want anyone accidentally finding out about the curse…"

Stepping into the water the natural redhead shuddered and gasped out, "Gah… That's cold…" After spending a minute to adjust to the cold water Ranma did one last active scan with her ki to make sure that she wasn't going to be getting any unexpected visitors. Satisfied that the only person close enough was the ninja guarding her room from unwanted visitors Ranma relaxed and prepared to turn on the hot water.

Turning on the hot water Ranma sighed in contentment letting the warm fluid wash over her working in conjunction with the rather pleasant dream that she had just woken from to alleviate a lot of her pent up frustrations at being temporarily displaced with no idea on how she had gotten there.

Shock and panic quickly started to take over though as two very important facts reared their ugly heads. One being that the water was currently more than enough to reverse her gender and more importantly, two that she was still a she. Frantically she grasped a hold of the hot water handle and turned it fully on while repeating silently to herself, _"No… No… I can't be locked…. Not again…"_

Just as she was starting to feel her desperation turn into fear she began to feel the familiar odd sensation of her body shifting forms, albeit a lot more slowly than the nearly instantaneous way she usually associated with it. Sighing in relief he/she thought, "What's happening? Why is it taking so long to change? I wanted to get used to this form and work on accepting it as a part of me, not be locked ." Feeling something else happening Ranma's face took on a even more worried expression as the not technically yet male realized, "My ki… It's being drained… How? What's wrong with me? It almost feels like the more male I become the more my ki gets drained…" Starting to feel really feint Ranma tried to switch off the hot water but the action was too little too late as darkness began to swim at the very edges of her vision. He/she had just enough time before collapsing out of the shower to realize two more things. The Hot water was still on and she was returning to being a she again.

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A short time later

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Ayame approached the Hospital entrance deep in thought as she tried to figure out her fathers reasoning for sending her to deliver breakfast to a young woman that they had only just met. Off hand she could not even remember a time where he had done something for any of his customers, well with the exception of Naruto. But that was a different case altogether as those were day's that he closed down the shop for personal holidays and even then he just insisted that it was just to make sure that their best customer doesn't track them down and demand to be fed Raman on their few off day's.

"_Of course," _She realized as she made her way into the lobby, "_This is the first time that I've ever delivered something other than ramen. Though I do wonder when dad learned how to make Okonomiyaki_." Putting that last thought to the side Ayame stepped up to the admissions desk to ask for directions. "excuse me, Can you direct me to Ranma Saotome's room?" Ayame asked politely to the half asleep looking clerk at the desk.

"Visiting hours aren't until nine o'clock." The clerk replied not even bothering to glance up in her direction.

Keeping her voice polite Ayame tried again, "But sir, I was hoping to bring my friend breakfast."

"Patients are prohibited from having outside foods brought in unless it has already been cleared by their doctors."

"Please sir…" Ayame said as she changed tactics and utilized her feminine charms to their full effect in the hopes of getting the clerk to see things her way.

"Sorry, there's nothing I can do, rules are rules and all that." the clerk stated after sparing Ayame a quick glance and turning away in disinterest.

Ayame sighed it figured that her luck with men would bring her to the hospital when the gay clerk was working. "_Well he could be married…" _Spotting a yellow jacketed book sitting slyly on the mans lap that reminded her of her ever so brief Yaio fan girl days Ayame blushed and realized, "_Okay so maybe he's not married…"_

Shifting tactics yet again Ayame broke down in tears and sniffed out, "I just wanted to see my girlfriend… It's been so long since I've seen her… She's all I have and I didn't even know that she was here until last night."

Turning his head to look at the girl with renewed interest the clerk sighed, when it came down to it he was just a hopeless romantic working a dead end job. "She means that much to you?"

"Oh yes…" Ayame lied, "We used to be inseparable…" Throwing in a few tears for extra measure she continued, "But then her father took her away… I… I thought that I would never see her again…"

Signing deeply after being emotionally moved by her tale the clerk replied, "I guess it really wouldn't hurt if I just happened to write down her room number on this slip of paper and left it conveniently sitting right here on my desk while I went to go get my supervisor."

"Really!" Ayame exclaimed as her eyes sparkled with renewed hope, "You would do that for me?"

"Sure. It'll be our little secret." The clerk replied with a wink as he shuffled through a pile of paperwork looking for the information while internally shivering at the thought of two women being together.

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"_Well That worked out rather well_." Ayame said to herself as she stepped out of the elevators, "_And I just had to act like she was my long lost girlfriend to get the guy to help me… I suppose it's just as well… It's not like I've been having much luck with guys_." Thinking about a Silver haired masked ninja she added with a frustrated snort, "_Honestly… Some guy's can just be dense…"_

Shaking her head to clear her mind away from her personal frustrations Ayame refocused on her surroundings and looked around hoping that no one had noticed her arrival on the floor. Spotting the nurse's station and not seeing any medic nins around Ayame sighed in relief, _"Honestly the things I do for my dad… Though if he ever found out about what I had to say to get this far I'd never hear the end of it… Now what room was she in again?" _

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Spotting an Anbu standing right outside of the very room she was hoping to enter Ayame bit back a rather impolite curse before deciding to just go ahead and enter the room.

Bear, as he was known while on duty immediately stepped in the path of the young woman attempting to gain entry in the room and said, "Can I help you with something miss?"

Ayame sighed to herself figuring that somehow the lesbian act was not going to cut it with a member of the elite Anbu. Shrugging as she figured that it couldn't hurt anything she readily replied, "I'm here to visit my girlfriend Ranma Saotome. I even brought her breakfast."

Staring down at the young woman and getting a flinch the masked Anbu shrugged, he had his orders but there were exceptions to them. While his primary goal was to keep the young woman from being spirited away once more he also had orders to ensure that she remained content and was not to intrude upon her unless it was completely necessary. Having recognized the young woman in front of him from some of the times he had been charged with keeping an eye on the younger Uzumaki and knowing from the report from the team that followed him yesterday that the two women had met the night before he kept his question simple and asked, "Girlfriend huh?".

Nodding her head Ayame replied almost regretfully, "Well… Technically not yet…" Sparing the man a wink and a thumbs up she added with higher spirits, "But I'm hopeful…"

"_I had thought that this was the girl that Cat told me had a thing for Kakashi… Seems like she's playing for the other team… Wait till I tell the guys…" _ Switching away from perverted fantasies of what the two young women would do together Bear cleared his throat as he readied a reply, "_Regardless, She's not a threat so I can let her in." Stepping aside Bear gestured with his hand and offered, _"Good luck." while ignoring the small trickle of blood that was trying to escape his nose due to what the young woman before him had implied.

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"_Wow… That was a lot easier than what I'd have thought it'd be." _Ayame thought to herself as she stepped into the room and announced cheerfully, "Ranma I brought you breakfast." Not seeing the rooms occupant anywhere the girl briefly considered turning back to the guard to ask him where she was but upon noticing the sounds of running water coming from the bathroom she changed her mind. "She must be feeling better this morning." Ayame thought to herself as she spied the wheelchair in the room with her, "Perhaps I should just leave a note explaining that I just stopped by to bring her breakfast." Setting the package down on the tray next to the bed Ayame took a pen out of her pocket and turned her attention to looking for a scrap piece of paper. Not seeing a readily available slip somewhere she approached the stack of books and began flipping though them to see if perhaps Ranma had something tucked in-between the pages that she could use. After cycling through several textbooks she gave up with a sigh and muttered, "I guess I might as well just make myself comfortable and wait for her to get out of the shower."

Making her way over to the chair by the window Ayame to a seat and folded her hands on her lap, occasionally glancing out of the window to help pass the time.

After several minutes of sitting patiently Ayame began to feel a little awkward with just sitting there, turning her attention to the bathroom door she muttered, "She's taking an awfully long shower…"

However despite her awkwardness of waiting in a strangers hospital room while they bathed Ayame did not want to intrude. Spotting a red covered book sitting next to her on a little end table Ayame turned a speculative gaze towards the shower wondering if perhaps the book laying out in the open was responsible for the rooms occupants extensive shower.

Shrugging because she currently had nothing better to do, other than head over to their family stand and prepare for a long day of cooking ramen Ayame decided to occupy herself with a bit of light reading while she waited for her unknowing host to finish her relaxing shower.

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Some time later

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Ayame glanced up from her reading to the sole clock in the room. Grimacing over how much time had passed while she lost herself in the delicately written tales of Icha Icha Paradise A Cultural Guide to the Ninja Nations the brown-haired ramen chef almost reluctantly set the book down and turned her gaze over to the bathroom door. Muttering, "I better knock on the door and see if she's alright… She's been in there for quite some time already."

Rising out of her chair she made her way over to the bathroom door and knocked softly with the hopes that she wasn't interrupting anything important. Not hearing any forthcoming response she knocked again and softly called out, "Ranma are you in there? It's me Ayame… From Ichiraku's... We met last night..." Becoming even more concerned when she could still hear the water running and no sounds of movement from within Ayame knocked a third time and announced, "Ranma? Are you in there? I'm coming in so don't freak out..."

Slowly pushing the door open Ayame cautiously peeked into the room hoping that she was not interrupting anything private. Waving her hands in front of her face in an attempt to clear away the sudden onslaught of steam The ramen chef tried to get a good look into the room. After a moment she was able to make out the source of the steam as the shower curtain was hanging open allowing her just enough visibility to know that there was no one currently bathing. Becoming even more worried at not seeing the redhead she took a few steps into the bathroom. Unfortunately the room was still quite full of steam even with the door hanging open, doing a fairly good job of restricting her vision. Blindly stepping further into the room Ayame took slow deliberate steps not wanting to trip over anything while reaching out with her arms and waving them about in a futile effort to clear out the slowly dissipating steam. As she approached the open shower she altered her course slightly to try to turn off the hot water. Being so close to the source of the rushing water though she was unable to make out the weak groans coming from the floor. It was unfortunate really because had she been able to hear the groans coming from the floor she might have been able to prevent what happened next.

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"_Owwweeee, my head… What happened?" _Ranma groaned to herself as her eyes slowly fluttered open only to discover that where ever she was covered in a humid white mist. Blearily the current redheaded young woman reached up unsteadily with her hands, probing her head for any sign of further injury while she waited for her vision to stop swimming in the murky whiteness of her surroundings.

However even as out of it as she was after a moment or so of just laying there she was able to make out the soft pitter patter of someone approaching. Trying to get their attention but finding her voice extremely weak she settled for a plan 'B' and tiredly hefted her arms about in the hopes of latching onto whomever was approaching. Normally the proud martial artist might consider that in itself an act of weakness but even she had enough common sense to know that being stepped on was probably not in her best interests at the moment as it could quite possibly result in further injury that might prolong her stay inside the hospital.

After a moment of blindly reaching out with the lead weights she was currently using for arms Ranma managed to make contact with whomever it was and despite her original intentions of just alerting the newcomer to her presence she found her hands were not currently accepting her orders as instead of just brushing up against the person they decided to latch onto what ever they could find purchase with.

It was not until after a smooth soft body landed on her that the sometimes girl realized that somehow she had just managed to depants her rescuer… Well that and that whomever the girl was apparently had decided to go commando or rather in this case ninja…

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Moments earlier

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"Hockage -Sama." Kakashi greeted lazily looking up from his book while he waited for the elevator.

"Kakashi…" Sarutobi greeted in return adding, "Aren't you supposed to be reporting to duty about now?"

Shrugging the masked nin replied, "I'll just tell them that I stopped by the hospital to visit an old friend on the way in."

Seeing that the elevator had just arrived the third stepped into it was a thoughtful expression on his face as he considered the fact for once the Jonin would have a valid excuse for being late as compared to his usually lame and often exasperating reasons. "You know…" he started once Kakashi had stepped into the elevator, "If you weren't one of my best ninja I wouldn't put up with your… eccentricities…"

Tearing his gaze from his book Kakashi just eye smiled in response, not wanting to press his luck with the man who assigned missions.

With no verbal response being given the elevator soon passed into comfortable silence as it slowly brought them to their destination. Shifting in his place to spare Kakashi another glance the Hokage decided to break the silence with a little casual banter, "You seem like you're in a good mood today."

Shrugging in response the one eyed nin stated, "I think that I actually made some progress with Naruto's training this morning… Don't get me wrong he still has a ways to go but I think he's starting to catch on…"

"Ohh… How so? Sarutobi asked knowing full well that while Naruto was a knucklehead at times he was far from stupid."

"I think he's realizing just how much he needs to improve his chakra control if he's going to become a Ninja." Kakashi stated seriously before turning to a lighter note with, "By the way have you seen his new technique yet?"

"New technique? Sarutobi asked slowly trying to figure out what the Jonin was talking about.

Waving his the book dismissively Kakashi decided that if the Hockage did not yet know about it then he shouldn't ruin the surprise so after waiting until the elevator reached its destination he replied while stepping through the doors, "You should ask Naruto about it mere words just don't do it justice. Besides I don't want to ruin the surprise."

"Surprise…" The professor of Konoha muttered in response as he stepped ino the hall, silently mulling over what technique Naruto could have possibly come up with, especially given his rather limited chakra control." Hearing the sharp crisp snap of one of his nins coming to attention Sarutobi came out of his musings and stated, "Report."

"It's been pretty quiet, no sign of any intruders or enemy nins spying on her, though she did have a visitor earlier this morning that has not left yet."

"Really who?" Sarutobi asked as he calmly stroked his pipe.

"The girl from the ramen stand, Ichiraku's. Ayame I believe is her name." Bear stated as he glanced between Kakashi and the Hokage.

"Hmmm…I was not aware that they were acquainted."

"Hokage-Sama, As far as I know they met for the first time last night when I took Ranma and Naruto there for Dinner."

"Hmmm…" Sarutobi considered thoughtfully, "Are you sure? Did either of them show any sign of recognition,,, Or anything that would bring young Ayame here this morning."

Shaking his head Kakashi replied, "I don't think so… I mean back in the day she had this way about her… Though now that I think about it Ranma did seem rather tense when we first got there she only started to really relax after Ayame came out from the back…"

"Hokage-Sama, If I may…" Bear started drawing attention onto himself. Seeing that he was being given the opportunity to speak he continued, "The girl known as Ayame inferred that she had romantic intentions and was hopeful that the one known as Ranma would be receptive towards a relationship when I questioned her upon arrival."

"Really? She phrased it like that?" Kakashi questioned in disbelief, "That doesn't really seem like something Ayame would say."

Withholding a flinch due to the questioning stares directed his way Bear replied, "Well not in so many words but that was the jist of it." _Stupid self help books, that is so getting tossed out when I get home. Eloquence my ass."_

"I see…" Sarutobi replied not wanting to chastise the Anbu for not being crass while fighting the urge to break out his pipe, "Was there anything else?"

Stepping to the side Bear answered, "Ayame did appear to have brought Ranma breakfast as she had a take out container with her."

Sarutobi stood there silently for a moment in consideration while he mulled the information around in his head before stating, "Well perhaps we should not be jumping to conclusions, it is possible that Ayame is merely attempting to look out for Naruto and nothing more." Turning back to Kakashi he said, "Well apparently Ranma is already up so we need not worry about waking her."

Nodding back to the Hokage Kakashi rapped quickly on the door as a courtesy before brazenly opening the door and walking through. Once in the room the masked nin paused something was off. The bed was made, the take out box the ANBU mentioned was sitting untouched on the table and the water in the bathroom was running with the door open as there was a steady trickle of steam flowing into the room. Turning his attention to the bathroom door his jaw dropped in disbelief just moments before he was able to tear his gaze away with the hopes of preventing a major nose bleed.

Hearing footsteps behind him the copy nin was instantly reminded of whom else was with him, thrusting his arm back he warned, "Hokage-Sama… Stop… Don't look…"

The Professor stopped in his tracks trying to take the warning seriously but a few things prevented him from doing so. For one he was far too experienced to fall under the effects a simple genjutsu and secondly he was not sensing any Chakra that could even possibly be considered threatening. Of course then there was the fact that Kakashi himself had not reacted to a threat but merely turned away rather abruptly and that was a curiosity in itself as the masked nin was not known to be skittish. So despite the warning from the ANBU captain he looked anyway only to realize too late that just because there is no physical threat does not mean that there is not a threat. With the floor now rapidly approaching the wizened leader of Kanoha had only one thought on his mind as blood started to jet from his nose.

"_It was worth it."_

Kakashi sighed as the Hokage fell backwards with blood erupting from his nose and a silly grin adorning his face. He supposed that that might have been his reaction as well but he had built up a resistance to such sights as a result of his friendship with her before her disappearance. Though that's not to say that he didn't enjoy the brief glance.

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Just as the door to the room opened.

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Having manage to come back fully to her faculties Ranma tried to hold in her breath, knowing full well from the position she was in that any exhale on her part would spell certain doom to her. Holding her breath though while normally something she could do for several minutes was proving to be a more difficult task than what she had originally though, probably due to the impact of the other girl having already forced the air from her unsuspecting lungs.

Turning an interesting shade of purple from both embarrassment and lack of oxygen Ranma's resolve to not breath quickly began to turn into desperation as instead of climbing off of her the other girl kept shifting positions and falling back down on top of her thus reintroducing herself in a most intimate way.

Ayame tried to get off the redhead, she really did but with her hands unable to find purchase on the slick floor and her pants entangled with the natural redhead she was finding it increasingly difficult to do so. Feeling a warm shiver run through her body as Ayame felt the smaller girls take in a deep breath the ramen vendor was temporarily torn between wishing that she had done the laundry the other day so she would have had on some underwear or wanting a large soft bed. _"Well it's not like this can get any worse." She thought to herself as she resigned to her fate and laid down her head for a moment in an attempt to get her bearings before trying to resume her previous actions. _

Her respite was cut short though as she heard the door open and a warning accompanied by a thud. Shivering again, mostly due to her accidental sixty-niner trying to say something Ayame decided that perhaps it would be a good time to try to get back on her feet. Gently setting her hands down unto the other girls legs She pushed up onto her knees.

After further risking the other girls wrath and uttering a plea to get off her Ranma tried not do anything further that might enrage the woman further. Her body though had other ideas though as it still hadn't caugh it's breath from earlier and was starting to respond favorably to her situation. Feeling the girl onto of her manage to make it to her knees Ranma sighed in relief, realizing almost too late that she was not out of the woods yet.

Ayame let a soft moan escape her mouth before covering her mouth in embarrassment.

Now snapped out of her temporary induced shock from the position she had found herself in Ayame tried to struggle to her feet, unfortunately though two facts kept her from doing so. One at first she was having difficulties finding perchance with her hands as the floor was overly slick from the water pumping out of the shower, and two her pants were now entangled with an appendage from the rooms other occupant.

Blushing as her face was once again introduced into a soft red tuft of hair the Ramen cook could only think, "_Well it could always be worse…"_


End file.
